www.finnamygdalitsis.myportfolio.com/productions

Finding my skill and passion in the details of my development this year has been a gradual and winding journey. I’ve found that there is important growth which comes out of the unexpected, and respect for the course of trials. Learning from each of my errors has changed my creative process and evolved my way of thinking, with which I can proudly present my concepts in this year’s exhibition.

I have always been passionate about tattoos and tattoo design, which is why I wanted to challenge the social prejudices towards this art form. By tying back to the time period of tattoos peak western popularity and theatrical exhibitions, I wanted to produce a garment which incorporated authentic designs in an elegant and graceful way, while being understood by viewers and audiences as classic art on the body. I embroidered each tattoo into the mesh fabric, which blends into the skin so the designs move and settle on the skin like real tattoos. This also makes the garment easier for an actor to wear and remove easily in a stage production. Embroidery and sheer fabric brings the sophisticated and stylistic element, while the corset and seated pose bonds the garment to “freak shows” of the early 1800s.

I based this project on Breakfast at Tiffany’s, more specifically, the reinvention of oneself through fashion. My primary focus for this project was to look below surface value, overlooking the glamour and thinking more about the characters and how the director had conveyed their mindsets through their clothes and accessories. This fascinated me, as subconsciously we read what they wear.

As my project progressed I began to think in a more abstract way, coming up with absurd ideas and shapes, playing around with them on the body. This progression is what shaped my final outcome. In the past I have worked with the body in mind, sticking to shapes that I know are conventional, however I took this opportunity to really push myself and my creativity.

@franki_makes

My final outcome is an ice cream shop decorated using patterns, motifs and sculptures that were created through experimentation: Exploring the visual and tangible properties of fruit as well as absurd ideas surrounding fruit e.g what fruit might look/ behave like in an alternate universe.

At this ice cream parlour they sell slabs of sorbet and gelato that come embedded with designs that are the same as the ones seen on the walls of the shop. The perfect photo opportunity!

Photos are not my own, used for visualisation purposes only.

Since I was young I have had a fascination with radioactive materials and the stories surrounding them. This is what my work has been centred around for the past two months. I wanted to explore how I could raise awareness about some of the stories I had heard, through design.

I have included imagery from the 1959 study on children's baby teeth in Missouri. After testing atomic bombs in the atmosphere scientists wanted to see the effects that it had had on the population they did this by collecting 30,000 baby teeth from children in the affected area. The campaign for this study interested me because it showed happy children helping science when really they found a significant increase in the isotope strontium 90 which is radioactive and causes cancer. This is one story out of many, where ignorance and experimentation towards radioactive compounds cause harm to many people and I think it teaches us to be careful what we are doing to the natural world and ourselves.

My project surrounded the topic of 'Transformation', aiming to illustrate a variety of ways garments could become transformative, whether this is through direct manipulation from the wearer, or the introduction of external factors such as lighting. The dictionary defines transformation as “a marked change in form, nature, or appearance” and my own personal definition does not stray far from this. The use of fashion, makeup and styling to transform a person is a particular interest of mine, especially when this involves questioning and challenging the gender binary.

My final presentation illustrates a conservative, almost period, garment that conceals the entire body. The twist, a painted silhouette of a naked body, is revealed when exposed to UV light, illustrating how nightlife and club culture can free a person from the restrictions of mundane, every-day life. To represent the fluidity of gender, I chose a male model, adorned with feminine makeup, to model my womenswear. This further reinforces the freedom of the night, as lines between gender blur in the dark.

What if the working world dressed like fantasy characters?

An exploration into how we could look if we dressed to the extreme when we go to work. Drawing from thoughts and interpretations of fantasy from other people combined with the mundane idea of uniform.

'The Expiration of Embarrassment'

I have designed and produced a series of garments which reflect moments of humility.

I began to surround myself with embarrassing imagery, reflecting on personal and public moments. Throughout my research process I began to notice that these embarrassing moments were often capitalised on exposure. Particularly, I became very interested in the exposure of the body in this aspect and physical exposures which cause humility. For example, the toilet roll stuck to that person's shoe, the inside out umbrella, stains and pants falling down.

After collecting a bank of imagery to work from I began exploring and replicating this imagery to reflect the moments of embarrassment in an attempt to find the humour behind the humility. Looking at how I could incorporate these forms within a celebratory manner after reading texts like, The Unwanted Exposure of Oneself. Concluding that these moments are what unites us.

'Wear and Tear'

I chose to focus my project around repair after seeing the increased popularity of crafts during lockdown and becoming interested in the idea that they have an ability to repair in both a literal and non-literal sense.

I came to appreciate how significant crafts can be to people beyond a final outcome, with the traditions, relationships, cultures and processes that comprise them being of much more importance. This understanding led me to consider whether through making textile repair invisible one simultaneously hides the history of a textile.

My ideas slowly progressed with me exploring the necessity of repairing textiles in an era when most people lack the time, skills or even desire to mend all their clothes. I experimented with how you could remove the need to repair by incorporating damage as an intended stage in the life-cycle of a textile. Through making it part of the design, I hoped that it would extend the lifespan, reducing the need to throw away and buy new.

My final outcome is a series of textiles that can be improved through damage - either left to wear away naturally or slashed and personalised revealing a geode-like combination of colours within.

For my final project, I decided to base it around ‘Childhood nostalgia’. I have always had a fascination for childhood materials from toys to accessories and observing the act of ‘play’. I wanted to explore the perception of children and dig deeper into the theory of nostalgia. What does it mean to ‘feel’ nostalgic?

After researching its origins and the psychology of it, I learned that over the course of history it has changed its meaning from a diagnosed mental illness to a normal part of human behaviour. I thought about senses and how I can approach my experiments in a ‘childish’ way. For my final pieces, I set about creating a collection of samples taking a playful approach, making references to personal belongings and props that we are all familiar with as children.

@wanmaedodd

For my final project, I was exploring how something ordinary or unattractive (cracks for example) could be made into something of value. The project started outdoors with natural forms such as trees. I also considered man-made cracks and damages and then moved indoors to look at wallpapers, the layers of paint and wallpapers underneath, and experimented with Kintsugi method repairing a broken pot with gold lacquer.

My final outcomes used old book pages on which I created detailed line drawings in ink. These resembled cracks but somehow instead of representing the negative aspect of gaps and holes, they seem now to me to be building connections, almost like neurons. Some of these lines were overlaid with gold thread, adding value and beauty. I see these pieces could be used (close up) as fabrics, wallpapers or wall hangings.

@lilyeverard_

During lockdown everyone's pace of life took a hit and instantaneously our hectic day-to-day activities came to a halt. We were unexpectedly given time in order to stop and take a step back. During this period I began to cherish the smaller aspects in life. My main focus was to pay attention to the neglected elements within my environment, such as the hidden patterns in architecture. This appreciation soon evolved into my project focus: The Unconventional Beauty in the Everyday.

In response to this subject, I began to widen my perspective to a larger audience and stretch beyond my surroundings to the broader context of seeking beauty in the mundane and familiar. In doing so I aimed to reconsider traditional ideals of ‘beauty’ by incorporating unorthodox materials within my textiles, with the intention of revealing an unconventional grandeur in the disregarded. To place emphasis on the ignored beauty, I situated my work back into the context of the everyday - placing my designs onto building facades. By reintegrating my work into the urban environment, with an obvious aesthetic contradiction, I hope to encourage a viewer to take a step back (like me) and appreciate the ‘unconventional beauty in the everyday’.

@selstxtls

An investigation into unpredictability and uncertainty; exploring and visualising human impact, control and sustainability.

Choosing a concept to explore that was theoretical in nature led to my project becoming heavily research based as I spent more time exploring the properties and qualities of materials rather than aiming to produce a commercial outcome. I learnt that communicating something that was truly unpredictable or uncertain meant encouraging a lack of control in my practice in terms of the materials I used as well as the techniques. The less control = the less certain and predictable the outcome is.

Accepting uncertainty and unpredictability meant embracing mistakes and accidents - resulting in unexpected outcomes which wouldn’t have been possible without them.

Throughout the project I worked between 2D and 3D media using one to influence the other. I extracted and created shapes which were irregular using digital methods and translated them into larger scale patterns, something which I think has become a large part of my practice.

I juxtaposed uncertainty by using traditional textiles techniques (primarily crochet) with my unconventional materials.

Tackles ideas around sustainability as it uses something considered to be waste and gives it purpose, it highlights how you shouldn’t be so passive around what they throw away and that you should consider how you can reduce reuse and recycle. Also highlights the amount which we throw away as a little can actually turn into a lot.

'Rooftops'
A collection of three woven collage samples
12” x 35”

I have resolved my work as a collection of samples, involving a range of materials and processes. The main technique I have focused on throughout the development of my project is weaving, using materials such as cardboard, yarn and wooden splints, which I learnt are texturally and visually most effective. My intentions with this project were to explore the visual and physical qualities between industrial roofing and green roofs, while focusing on sustainability. This involved incorporating natural vegetation, such as grass and moss with industrial materials, like cardboard and wire through the process of overlapping, intertwining and wrapping these materials and challenging the technical process of my weaves. I enjoyed working broadly in an unrestricted manner, while thinking about composition and colour combination.

The concept for my final project is inspired by division and separation. I wanted to advocate the idea that we should be ‘building bridges instead of building walls’ which was inspired by a Ted Talk. I’m very interested in this topic because of how relevant it still is in today’s world.

Throughout the development of my project, I have explored ways in which I could translate this idea into the material processing and the shape of the final design. For the shape, I decided to design a series of garments that would link two people together, establishing a literal ‘bridge’ between them. As for the materials, I explored a lot with merging materials that have opposing features which can be seen in the final illustrations where the lace is weaved in with the paper. The colour choice also resulted from experimenting with colours that are said not to be worn together to attempt to subvert these divisive rules.

'Our Second Best Bed' / 'The Circumstantial Space of Performance'

'Our Second Best Bed' detaches the notion of tailoring and normality of furniture to create scaled minimalist garments inspired by sections of furniture, more so focussing upon chairs. Using Bertolt Brecht’s “Verfremdung” to “turn something ordinary [...] into something peculiar, striking and unexpected." The initial stages of the project were surrounding the contextual practices of Rose Lee Goldbergs - ‘Space as Praxis’ and ‘The Circumstantial Space of Performance’ - Kiran Graham. Using my endeavours into performative research I had developed the garments to have an aspect of performance in the way they are worn.

The project title was inspired by Shakespeare’s last Will and Testament: wherefore it is explicitly written that his wife shall only receive their second best bed, within that period the first best bed was usually reserved for guests, therefore there remained more intimate/marital links to that specific bed. I used the allegorical language of furniture to develop the outcomes to provoke cumulative notions of my personal design and context within the project. I wanted to question how furniture could be used in different environments in a conscious approach to communicate a selection of developed pieces that remove the usability of furniture to represent the desensitisation to the normality of furniture.

Throughout my Foundation course I have always been edging towards textiles however, it can become expensive due to materials so in this project I was looking at objects around my house I can use to save money. I mainly focused on printing by going back to my childhood when I used to do potato printing all the time, so I was finding objects to push into the potato to see what patterns it left behind. I also think colour theory has had a large impact on it. When playing around with it I then edited them digitally to create these.

I have also looked somewhat into natural dyes such as rust from screws to see the markings it left behind but also the colours from it. During this project I haven't bought any materials since my goal was to add value to other objects and to reuse.

'Tube Sculpture'

Throughout my Foundation course I have tried to push material boundaries using plastics, metals and wire all of which are impractical unusual materials to work with in fashion. All my projects have been based around sustainability; using recycled materials, old clothes and natural dyes has made my practices low waste and toxin/chemical free.

I began my project by looking into illness and disease. I explored the biology behind many illnesses such as cancer, meningitis and diseases transmitted through body fluids. I wanted to explore the effects these had on the human body. I began to become more interested in the structure of the body through veins and nerves. I started researching medical equipment and things that support the body during illness and gradual decay.

My final garment is a tube sculpture filled with red liquid along with a pair of jeans with hand painted wire patterns I designed myself.

In this project I set out to explore Tartan and its uses. I quickly found myself focusing in on the pleat as it is a prominent part of the kilt. During my research I discovered how the pleat formed around the body and reacted to different scenarios. I also did some research into other cultures patterns and was intrigued by the Shibori dyeing techniques and the strong relationship between the Japanese people and Scottish people.

My final piece is a remake of the classic pleated kilt represented in a modern design with some inspiration from Japanese streetwear. I was restricted to only using white cotton rather than tartan or a Shibori dye and would have loved to have incorporated those patterns into my dress to really achieve what I set out to do at the start of this project, however I am still thrilled with my outcome.

My work this year has been mainly photography based since I found a fondness for it during unit 2. For this project I chose a topic which is close to home, focusing on countryside walks. Growing up surrounded by the Surrey Hills, it's a ritual to throw on as many layers as possible to keep warm and dry when outside.

Throughout my project I looked into the importance of practicality in peoples fashion choices when choosing their attire. I found in rural areas compared to urban, people's decisions in what they wear was more limited; this is due to the conditions of the surroundings. I wanted to explore breaking the stereotypical uniform found in the countryside.

Throughout my photography I styled my model focusing on colours and silhouettes that you wouldn't expect to see someone wear whilst trudging through mud. Not only did I look at opposing the typical countryside clothing but I decided to combine expected garments into the photographs, such as Hunter wellies or a Barbour jacket. In the end I resolved my four photoshoots into a photo book to combine the multiple elements I captured into one place.

@faro.nh

My final project is based on identity and androgyny; studying the human form, stereotypes of gender and how an identity can be created and sculpted through fashion design. I chose the topic of androgyny to explore gender as a social construct and how it can be translated in design. I wanted to investigate how gender stereotypes affect the way people are perceived and understood, and whether a true equilibrium between male and female stereotypes in fashion can be created, to represent the broader spectrum of gender. Straying from the limits of practicality and functionality, I have focused more heavily on the concept and meaning behind design, allowing this to guide my experimental practice.

I've found that despite having an intention of creating a garment that visually represents male and female characteristics equally, the concepts and my contextual research has led me to create a mostly feminine and sculptural design, that can be catered and reformed over different body types and shapes, independent of structural gender characteristics.

Throughout the project I have challenged the limits to which the function, materiality and aesthetic of netting can be subverted and made into something wearable.

Through my research I became aware of many different issues surrounding the topic, such as ghost net pollution, and the stigma around wearing netting. This led me to question how I could incorporate these issues into my work and what solutions could come from it.

Whilst developing my ideas I became interested in the process of weaving and how it can transform the netting from flat and deflated to voluminous and three-dimensional from only the pull of a string. From research I had done into the science behind the materiality of nets I recognised that the letter H was being repeated in the nylon equation. I translate this into a net out of repeated H’s which ended up resembling a cargo net. I also focussed on how sea animals are entangled, choked and killed by abandoned fishing nets and the physical embodiment of this through my work.

@alicecantfindaname

After deciding that the theme for my project would be focused on natural layers, I set about gathering research of natural materials/substances I saw around me, the most prominent of these materials being moss, mud and cobwebs. By collecting words that came to mind when people viewed the images I had taken, an interesting contrast of reactions to different cobwebs depending on the condition of the one being presented became apparent. If the cobweb was serving its function and capturing flies, the cobweb was seen as dirty, whereas an empty cobweb was even described as elegant.

This primary research fuelled my sample making as I wanted to interpret the layers that people disapproved of visually and create something that would have its beauty considered. With this I explored the centuries old thought that the exaggeration of women’s features via corsetry has been seen as a way to intensify their visual beauty. Considering environmental sustainability within this project was quite pertinent as I felt it would be hypocritical to disrespect that natural environment that inspired me. Presented as my final outcomes are my most successful samples which includes naturally sourced liquid latex, repurposed plastic pack rings and digital visualisation.

@zaclart

My alter ego is formed from the opposite of myself.

I set myself the challenge of researching the antithesis to my own style reality. What are the opposites of the colours in my wardrobe? What shapes can I find in the negative space of my body? How can I style myself in a completely different way?

My research led me to question the nature of identity and the freedom one can find in transforming who you are. From the campy costumes found on Leigh Bowery, Ziggy Stardust and in the London Club Kid scene to the otherworldly design of The Fifth Element and Seiran Tsuno, my exploration led me on a journey to an alternate reality where beige became blue, my bedroom became outer space and I became a genderless alien having fun through fashion.

'From the Perspective of a Five Year Old'

www.sites.google.com/students.leeds-art.ac.uk/jessicalewis-portfolio/home

This project explores the freedom and playfulness of a child's creativity through the lens of my childhood self, which I translated into the exaggerations in colour and silhouette to create this garment.

The initial inspiration for my work was a collection of paintings I saved from when I was five, hence the title of the project being 'From The Perspective of a Five Year Old'.

'Dress, not body & self'

We often say that clothes are a form of self-expression and a part of our identity as individual human beings but just how much of that identity is depending on the body? To be precise, our bodies seem to sometimes limit what we can or cannot wear, possibly in part due to the influence of societal body standards. So in this three way relationship where the body seems to be the middleman between the clothes and the identity, what would happen if we were to remove the body?

The aim was to create a garment that would show part of my identity where the body had little to no impact on the clothes. Thus, I looked at my surroundings for other material objects that would show who I am. Through my project I also looked at theories on how identity is related to fashion and what role does the body play in that as well. One of the theories explained the proximity clothes have with our body as the reason to why we seek self-expression through the garment.

The aim of my project was to look at gender fluid clothing. I did a lot of research into what gender fluid clothing was and realised quickly that it was quite complex.

I branched out and did some research into colour, I wanted to know what colours were considered to have a gender and what colours were considered to be gender neutral.

For my final piece I wanted to create multi-wear and gender neutral garment. I was interested in the idea of a ‘cape’ a garment that was meant to be worn over things and I liked the idea of it having a balloon like silhouette.

I looked at ruching, pleating and draw strings to try and find the best way to create this balloon affect.

In the end I used a draw string at the top and added a few pleats along the bottom, I hand painted the garment in a pattern I designed and in gender neutral colours.

@zoesartybits

My project began by looking at the unexplainable, irrational rituals many of us do on a daily basis - superstitions. Exploring these beliefs across cultures and industries led me to my Grandma, who believed you should always leave a mistake in your craft work to keep you safe from evil.

Whether the superstition was an excuse for dropped stitches and holey jumpers or really did have a plausible basis in religion and culture, it allowed me to construct a crochet garment composed entirely of mistakes. Using foils and tinsel alongside yarns created a magical piece with each stitch, colour and size determined by observing superstitions around me.

Throughout Foundation I have utilised drawing and sampling in relation to my specialism of textiles, consistently engaging with colour and pushing materials potential. Approaching tasks with an open mind has built my confidence whilst allowing me to find what excites me within my specialism. Researching contemporary knitwear and crochet designers alongside unconventional textile practitioners has allowed me to balance and explore my interests in both fashion and textiles.

'REALM' Magazine

My project started with the exploration of fantasy and the gap between fantasy and reality mainly how the blur between the two can be confusing. Some may say that their fantasy is a completely natural world, green, organic, ethereal. Others may want everything they can have, the greed, excess, lavish and overabundant life. Others fantasy may be of the post-human world, what will it look like when human greed exhausts our resources and we enter a state of decay?

Dating back to original sin, humanity as a whole has always wanted more, we do damage to our world and ourselves in the exploration of greed. There has to come a time when our greed and extravagance will prove too much and then comes decay. In this series of images I want you to explore your fantasy, is it a world in complete harmony with nature? Is it all consuming greed? Is it the remains of this world, the future, is it post-human?

Is there a fantasy that can truly fulfil human desire? Or will humanity be in constant pursuit of the unattainable?

I wanted to create a series of images depicting different ‘granny characters’ to explore different stereotypes and associations with grandmothers. The characters I explored were: chic, sporty, foodie, outdoorsy, arty and the stereotypical granny. I want people to question their associations with grannies and their preconceptions of how a grandmother should look and act.

I was lucky to be able to use my own 87 year old self titled ‘arty granny’ as the model for my photographs so they have an extra personal connection. I took the majority of my inspiration and primary research from my Nana’s house and objects she has handed down.

A questionnaire in the initial stages of the project gave me a wider outlook into what other people associate with grandmothers, a lot of the answers I visualised and used in my final imagery. A lot of my inspiration came from Tim Walker and his ‘Granny Alphabet’ books, also his work in fashion photography. I felt it was important to look at how elderly women were used in fashion campaigns and was delighted by what I found. There are some incredible campaigns from Juicy Couture to Dolce & Gabbana with ‘grannies’ as the main feature.

‘Through the Eyes of a Bookworm’

Studio Practice / Critical Research Journal

We have lots of books in our house. Those I find the most interesting are traditionally bound, hardbacks, encased in leather with marbled linings; tightly stitched so they can be thrown across the room and remain intact. Bound books are structured and layered (the process of bookbinding but also the pages themselves), I wanted to explore these features. The idea of longevity and the unconventional fascinated me.

For my research I wanted to manipulate and distort what a book is by experimenting with paper and leather. Folding, cutting, layering, turning a page and paper craft underpinned structural developments on the body. Investigating pockets, cuffs, lapels as well as suits informed my research. Additionally, looking at the traditional layering of garments that was common, until recently, added to my understanding.

To resolve my research I created a garment(s) which keeps the idea of being traditional and structured with layering whilst also conveying a modern approach in terms of materials and processes. The garment(s) is for the female form however I experimented with using a male form when resolving the project. The garment(s) combined traditional male and female structured garments for example, corsetry, layering of garments and suits.

'A Person’s Journey to Morality'

This project explores the struggle to ameliorate one’s self, to overcome one’s faults and defects before developing into a state of morality. The root of the project is moral and ethical philosophy, interwoven with fashion history, specifically corsetry. The traditional restriction of the corset is used as a metaphor, correlating the moral struggle to be good and sincere to the corset’s struggle to enable breathing and moving. The final stage of the project, the end of one’s journey, concludes in complete virtue and morality. This is elucidated through a life-casted plaster torso, with a structure alike a corset, altered with the art of ‘Kintsugi’. The Japanese art of repairing broken potter by mending the cracks with golden seams, a Zen Buddhist philosophy.

Kintsugi connotes beauty in broken things; it is a physical manifestation of resilience. Like a bowl or a vase, people sometimes crack, we may even break, but we should never throw ourselves away. Now that the struggle is over, the scars your immorality left you aren’t a source of shame, rather, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful version of yourself.

Kintsugi is a reflection of what it means to be human.

I started this project knowing I wanted my work to make my audience aware of the societal norms which we are unknowingly restricted by, so that they would begin to question these. My focus shifted as I refined my subject matter, I began looking at specific forms of societal controls. I became increasingly interested in toxic masculinity, how this limits us all, and the gender stereotypes that underpin it.

Taking aesthetic inspiration from icons like Grayson Perry and Billy Porter, I began producing images which confronted the audience, making them question their existing attitudes surrounding gender.

I wanted to create a discussion around the subject, initiating further research and a change of attitudes. I also created a hashtag in conjunction with my work so that my audience would have the opportunity to continue this discussion surrounding the subject.

'Veiled'

For my final project I created a story narrative portraying a character in preparation for an event. She is worried and fears of not being up to it, not matching the aesthetic expectations. She is wearing a veil. She is not aware of the oversized shadow behind her which controls her actions. As she starts putting on the lipstick, she becomes more anxious, more worried. She stares at the lipstick, her gaze resembling an automaton. The shadow, on the other hand, seems to grow larger, it looks like a puppeteer who manipulates the girl-puppet with invisible threads.

According to the original conception, the project was to highlight the social issues caused by social media when they urge aesthetic standards which lead to the transformation of the true identities. During the development of the project I changed the way of representing the message making it more personal. I focused more on the concept of identity. I wanted to show the dissociation between the various aspects of the same identity when the socialisation requires a forced adaptation to certain standards of beauty and fashion. I wanted to give a more intimate aspect to the message to increase its communication capacity.

‘Chrysalis’

The Chrysalis is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. The intention of my project is to capture this midpoint between immaturity and maturity in people. My interpretation of this is how there are layers which make up a person, and the maturing process is the breaking down of immature layers, gradually revealing the freedom of maturity- the liberty of acceptance and the revelation of our true selves.

I translated the idea of breaking down to reveal, by experimenting with different methods of breaking down materials, such as burning and dismantling.

In the images here, I layered burnt cotton shirts with translucent hosiery, alongside subtle gold embroidery. The gold embroidery represents the freedom of maturity, after being revealed by the breaking down of the materials. The shape of the dress was to reflect the movement in which the chrysalis hangs from a branch- hanging from the neck and ballooning towards the bottom of the dress.

'One Walk a Day'

@ellamadeart

Throughout the pandemic, my government-permitted daily walk quickly became one of my new favourite activities, and so this is what I decided to centre my project around. I used the project to thoroughly explore my local area while on my walks and I ended up creating a series of surface pattern outcomes from my findings, deciding to call the project ‘One Walk a Day’.

While it started as an unconfident experiment, the images I was able to get from my pressed plants became some of my favourite motifs to experiment and design with and ended up being heavily used in many of my final outcomes. I enjoyed mixing the real life images with my digitally drawn motifs, and through the Foundation course I have discovered that I work well going back and forth between physical and digital ways of working. This allowed me to generate a variety of designs that all communicate slightly different aspects of my local area and the different walks I take.

'Mess/Chaos/Discombobulate'

I tried to represent my tendencies of being messy and chaotic in my designs. I have deeply researched the topics of chaos and mess, which helped me establish my concepts for my final designs and additionally the methods with which I created my final outcome.

Throughout my project, I focused on the way darkness and light can be distorted in order to envision, and warp the  perception of reality. I began to understand communicating messages through association and found that I could create whatever effect I wanted with the right visual aspects being kept in mind. For example in my final image, there are four different representations of the same image, although these photos are similar, there are alterations in each one  of them which appeals to the subconscious associations of colour and what that means in terms of connotation. Lighter colours are ‘supposed’ to (has been seen in the deeper context of wider society) project realisation, enlightenment, and therefore (meta)physical illumination. Whereas darker colours are ‘supposed’ to mean mystery, the undiscovered, and therefore create a more dynamic interpretation. 

My project focuses on the concept of ‘False Realities’, aiming to challenge our perspective on how we see the world. Initially, I was drawn to how our memories become warped and faded over time, manipulating how we view both people and moments. With this in mind, I was drawn to how different people perceive the world around them, with the sole question: ‘Are two versions of reality ever the same?’. It was that question that drew me to explore how psychosis affects how people see their reality, blurring the lines between what’s real and what’s fake. If you can ever really distinguish between the two.

Their experiences, while harrowing, brought up the same theme: a chaotic version of reality created by hyperfocus on innate details. I drew on these emotions, replicating that sense of chaos and disruption within the distorted fabric detail that connects the boning.

With this idea of multiple coexisting realities, I wanted to create a transformative garment that would challenge the viewers perception of what they initially saw. So, I used restriction to suppress the boning, which when released would billow out and completely transform. This performative transformation was the driving force in creating my own ‘False Reality’.

'Two Metre World'

My blueprint inspired silk scarf design was the result of a project entitled ‘Two Metre World’. My ‘Two Metre World’ was the view from my accommodation window. The view included a building tower block, from this I went on to explore the structure and format of a variety of buildings. The base of this design was the product of layering two different types of buildings I saw in central London. The building in the background of the design is a slightly dated block of flats in the semi-Brutalist style of architecture. The building in the foreground of the design (The Shard) is a large and prominent modern skyscraper. The two buildings contrast in their form, however by reducing them to their skeletal shape (a building blueprint), both buildings work together.

I presented my design by styling it with a dark and angular jacket and glasses to mimic the form of a building but also to not distract from the design itself. It was photographed in a natural setting to contrast with the design, the setting still mimicking the design with the linear trees. 

I started off my project by looking at the eye and how individuals view and perceive the world differently. Pursuing my fascination with the eye and linking my work to my future plans as I intend to study Optometry at the University of Manchester in September.

My aim for this project was to create a piece of artwork that was more inclusive and accessible for people with visual impairments. I created a sensory blanket showing my tactile interpretation of the landscape, so my work could be experienced through touch as well as sight.

'Through the lens of Joe'

@nicoles_portfolioo

My aim for this project was to reimagine how I, and others, view the world by constructing an alternate alien commentary on the fashion industry. I created an editorial zine from the perspective of a fictional alien named Joe.

I began by figuring out a persona for Joe, then used that to imagine how Earth may be experienced by a foreign creature - how they might view our world, perceive our conventions and morals, and how their approach to styling a fashion shoot might differ.

I learned a lot from this project and became much more familiar and experimental with the processes involved in photography, editing and post-production. With limited access to a photography studio, I had a lot of fun creating different backdrops and mini shoot setups in my bedroom with friends.

I enjoyed creating images that warped and distorted reality, breaking laws of nature and conventional colour palettes through image manipulation.

My most prominent topic of research was into alien beauty trends as I was inspired by the artists showcasing their own uniqueness and individuality as a direct protest against Eurocentric colonial beauty standards. I pushed the narrative of beauty being subjective, and ended up choosing images with bright colours and extravagant poses to celebrate the freedom of self expression and the power of taking up space.